Mount Vernon Patriots Kicks Off Second Season

The Mount Vernon Patriots travel baseball team kicked off its second season when its 10U baseball team faced off against the Potomac Riverdogs in a double header on Sunday. 

Established in 2011, Mount Vernon Patriots provides local Little League players with an outlet to improve their skills and take their game to the next level.

“Not only are we here to help out those kids, we help out those leagues as well,” said Michael LeMorta, president of the Mount Vernon Patriots. “We give kids an opportunity to play at higher competition level.”

LeMorta began coaching Little League when his son started playing 14 years ago. His son is now 18 and plays on the Mount Vernon High School baseball team. LeMorta said he didn’t have a lot of opportunities to play baseball when he was younger, but his love for the game drove him to start coaching.

“I’ve traveled around and coached in many places: Long Island, Okinawa, Honolulu,” said LeMorta, who serves in the Marine Corps. “Every time I’ve been in those little leagues, we’ve always talk about developing a program so kids can get better and ... a program where kids can meet other kids.”

On March 24, the Mount Vernon Patriots will team up with Woodlawn Little League to provide a camp for players ages 7-10 to help them develop their skills in numerous positions on the field. LeMorta says that that age range is where players need to learn the correct mechanics and movements to play baseball so they can maintain those habits through the rest of their playing career.

“We’re going to help develop those mechanics for that age range to help them understand right mechanics,” said LeMorta. “The coaches from MVHS are assisting us, coaches from the travel team as well as some players from the Mount Vernon baseball team.”

A camp will also be held in conjunction with the Fort Belvoir Little League later this spring.

Although the Patriots lost to the Riverdogs on Sunday, the team "thoroughly enjoyed and learned from their inaugural travel baseball-level experience and look forward to hosting the Chesapeake Baseball team this weekend in Alexandria," LeMorta said. 

For more information about the Patriots, visit www.mvpatriots.org or email Michael.lemorta@mvpatriots.org.